I have been using 'xxxterm' (being renamed 'xombrero'). Trying a different one called 'dwb', which so far seems very cool.

It is similarly webkit-based, keyboard-driven, and uses whitelisting for cookies, plugins, and javascript. It's very slightly more full-featured than xombrero, but also seems to be very slightly slower. It's method of keyboard operation is more vi-like, having an insert mode one toggles in and out of. It makes excellent use of screen space. Lots of keyboard bindings, but like most such applications, one need only remember the few one uses.

It's not just about machine resources; it's about efficiency of use. Having one's screen all cluttered up with launch bars, tool bars, button bars, big fat tabs and other crap takes away space from whatever it is you're actually trying to do. Having to take your hands off they keyboard to use the mouse slows you down, if you're doing something like text entry or editing. It's about being anally retentive and indulging one's obsessions.

Had a root around with it for the last hour, I kinda like it. I like that the bookmarks file is literally just a flat text file with <url><space><title><newline>. That's how bookmarks should be done sanely. Still sticking with chrome for now, but of all the minimalist browsers I think dwb might be the best of the lot._________________

juniper wrote:

you experience political reality dilation when travelling at american political speeds. it's in einstein's formulas. it's not their fault.

Had a root around with it for the last hour, I kinda like it. I like that the bookmarks file is literally just a flat text file with <url><space><title><newline>. That's how bookmarks should be done sanely. Still sticking with chrome for now, but of all the minimalist browsers I think dwb might be the best of the lot.

It also has adblocking, which xxxterm lacks.

There are only two things I don't like about it so far, in comparison to xxxterm / xombrero:

a. No obvious way to set it up to automatically search when you type something into the URI line that's not a URI. I've grown accustomed to just typing whatever I want to search for right into the same place I'd normally enter a URI to go to. This is minor and I think I can get over it, once I figure out how to correctly configure a search engine alias (it keeps searching Google for "undefined"). Also, it might be possible to set this up using the URI-handler feature and some regular expression that matches "Not a URI".
[Edit] There was a bug preventing the 'add a search engine' function from working properly. It will be fixed in the next release (within days, I gather). In the meantime, there is a patch in bugzilla. With that now working, I have discovered that if you just type some crap into something that would normally open a URI, dwb will by default engage your default search engine to find it. This wasn't working initially beause it doesn't come with a default search engine already set up.
Problem solved.

b. The hinting tags are a bit hard to see, having a too-small font and a black box around them. I haven't looked hard at the various font configuration options, but I don't think I can make these bigger without making the rest of the text bigger. I like that it uses letters instead of numbers for tags, because I often miss-type numbers unless I'm looking at the keyboard.
[Edit] I have found the settings to alter the appearance of the hinting tags, and they are more than adequate (you can change font, size, color, style, etc., etc.).
Problem solved.

c. It's missing a hinting feature of xxxterm: instead of typing in whatever hint tag it has assigned to a URL, xxxterm will let you just start typing the link text, and it will jump to that URL once you've typed enough to uniquely identify it. This is nice, because you don't have to look-and-think twice (i.e., once to find the link you want to go to, and a second time to read the hint that it's been tagged with).
[Edit] It does in fact do this, and there's a setting to enable or disable it.
Problem solved.

I have some keybindings to learn, but I like this browser!

Last edited by Bones McCracker on Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:14 am; edited 2 times in total

If you're writing a minimalist browser, it should conform to BoneKracker Requirements and be released before the end of Christmas Holiday.

Chance of release before christmas is lim[x->0](x) … from negative infinity.

… but I'd like to know about the BK Reqs

Here is what comes to mind, without putting a lot of thought into it:

1. Fast, secure, standards-compliant, resource-efficient (the obvious basics).
2. Usable with keyboard alone (most-used user functions having configurable key bindings, navigation possible using URL-hinting).
3. Convenient whitelisting of URLs, by domain or site, for javascript, cookies (persistent, session), and flash/plugins. Convenient means it can be engaged using a single key-combination or mouse click; no digging through menus or typing into lists.
4. Ad blocking, using some regularly published block list, to include element-hiding.
5. Minimal use of screen space (no toolbars, menubars, etc.)
6. No vast, cascading trees of Gnomish or KDEish dependencies.
7. Integrated web search (ability to very easily pass a query to my desired search engine, for example, simply by typing it into the same field I would normally type a URL).
8. Extensibility (scriptable).

I haven't had any trouble with SSL, other than not being able to open Gentoo's Bugzilla site when I have ssl_strict activated, which I believe to be correct behavior, given that Gentoo Bugzilla uses a self-signed certificate.

I haven't tried Jumanji because I see no indication it has convenient URL white-listing for javascript, cookies, and flash/plugins, and this is one of my requirements.

I have one complaint: it's ad-blocker doesn't do element-hiding. Apparently the feature was included but is buggy.

Yeah, well, I have another. I'm currently running system rescue cd, putting a second gentoo on my disk (32 bit vs main 64. all so I can get android crap working and root my POS phone). I'm running whatever browser on the cd, and every time I press 'd' to close a tab, it doesnothing.

stupid dwb, getting me to expect a single key would work.

NQS_________________These opinions are mine, mine I say! Piss off and get your own.

This is mode confusion, I suspect. Pay attention to the status bar. If you're in the wrong mode, pressing 'd' doesn't do anything. If you hit 'd' and it doesn't work, try tapping escape (which will put you into "normal mode", no matter how befuckled you've got yourself), then press 'd'. Note that changing tabs or clicking with the mouse may (by design) change the mode you are in.

I had some "d is not working" frustration earlier, but it seems to have vanished. I have run into similar confusion when switching from a tab where I'm editing to another tab to look at something, then back to the first tab to type some more, and not understanding that I need to hit "i" to go back into editing mode. Earlier when I did this, the first thing I typed was 'H', which of course is <BACK>, so it jumped to another page.

I haven't been using Windows the last few weeks, but after using xxxterm (xombrero) for several weeks, I was on a Windows machine in Internet Explorer, and I kept hitting F9 to jump to the address bar, which didn't work, of course.

I have also had to learn to stop pressing 'ctrl+t' to open a new tab (as you know, it's 'O' in dwb).

Now that I'm used to it, I do find using 'J' and 'K' very convenient for navigating between tabs.